Brett Mason's Brett Bugle

November 2005 Archives

You are in the Brett Bugle archives right now. The HOMEPAGE is much more important.

2005-11-29category: MUSIC

When I wrote, a long time ago, that the theme song for Scrubs is "Superman" by Lazlo Bane, I got a lot of extra traffic from people searching for that info. Now I will shamelessly attempt to grab more unnecessary traffic by posting this little tidbit...

The theme song for House MD (which is on tonight at 9 p.m. Eastern Time) is "Teardrop" by Massive Attack.

2005-11-27category: BRETT

Oh, there are two things I forgot to mention about the Memphis trip, two things I experienced for the first time.

1. Danny introduced me to Pai Gow Poker. He's hooked on it, and he thought I might like it, so we went to Horseshoe Casino in Tunica, Mississippi, where I subsequently lost 40 of my hard-earned dollars in a matter of moments. No more cards for me! Stickin' to pickin' horses.

2. On my way back to Lexington, I stopped at a gas station to put air in my tires. The tire-pressure gauge on the stupid 50-cent air machine was giving me no response at all. Then a trucker walking by asked me how I was doing. I explained that I am pretty incompetent at car stuff, and he offered to help me using his company equipment. So I drove my car over to his tractor-trailer, and he hooked up a thin hose to some kind of air compressor device that comes standard on the truck. He brought my tires up to perfect pressure, sweet. Fantastic. That's a random act of kindness I never want to forget. (here's a photo)

2005-11-26category: FAMILY

I'm back from my Thanksgiving trip to Memphis now, and I'm getting caught up on my blog, which had a huge lapse in coverage when my PC crashed. As you can see here, this entry here is the FIFTH piece of a FIVE-PIECE update. See four additional updates below.

Okay, let me tell you about the trip. It was happy and sad.

Danny and Jennifer were great hosts, and I was very happy to be included in a family function. We had a big feast, of course, and we also had a fun outing at Bartlett Lanes, where the electronic scorecard will tell you exactly how fast (in MPH / miles per hour) your bowling ball was going.

Sadly, I think that my cousin is a little disappointed with me. He scowls at the shows I watch and the songs I sing. He can't relate to this relative who loves walking around the mall; he can't understand why (as detailed in my dating stories) I wear my heart on my sleeve.

Note to Danny: thanks so much for letting me crash at your place for three nights. Had a good time. And seeing how you handle your career and your hobbies and your marriage, I have a lot of respect for you. I'm proud of you. Good luck on your safety-training scholarship.

2005-11-21category: FOOD

Took a new friend to dinner at Tomo restaurant tonight. Am learning new things about food, especially about gluten. If you know anything about gluten, write me immediately and tell me because I need to know anything and everything that you know.

Oh, yeah, I'd also really like to know if M&M's will ever put out "Eminem M&M's." Can you find that out for me?

2005-11-19category: SOCIAL

If you memorized my blog entry on 10/27, then you already know that I have a brand new suit. Tonight I wore it for the first time while accompanying Danielle and Enrique to an art raffle at the Loudon House. It was a long event, and I have nothing to offer the art makers or the art buyers, so I found myself killing time by conversing with a friendly volunteer I'll refer to as E.B.

Danielle found out that a bunch of art people were going out to eat at Portofino's after the event. She also noticed that I was spending a lot of time with E.B. So Danielle extended an invitation to have one more guest at Portofino's...

Insert the last line of Casablanca here.

2005-11-18category: WORK

After a fulfilling business trip to Owensboro and a productive day in Danville, I did some volunteer work at the Contra dance tonight, playing piano in the open band. I know they appreciate me there, contributing my piano skills, but I also know that I should practice more or take more lessons in order to get a lot better at piano. Oh, well, maybe later.

2005-11-16category: FAME

When I was getting ready to leave for Owensboro, I was listening to KISS-FM, and I heard them seek an answer to this: "an average person will eat 28 of these in his or her lifetime." I phoned in and said "bugs" and they said no. Then I searched Google for the answer and called back in. The answer was "pigs", and I won a coffee mug. As an added bonus, I got to hear myself on the radio before I started my workday.

2005-11-16category: LIFE

quick list of stuff # saw Valerie and Darren last Saturday afternoon # saw Rachel last Saturday night # saw progress in my work in Danville a few days ago and in Frankfort yesterday # saw a free preview screening of Walk the Line last night # will see Owensboro KY today and tomorrow # will not see Kris this month

2005-11-12category: MUSIC

Had my final performance with the Squeaky Reels last night, and it went fine. Now I am free to play my crazy game of world travel.

2005-11-10category: FAMILY

Two overturned tractor-trailers on Interstate 64 west kept me from visiting Rachel tonight. I was all set to arrive in Louisville at 6:30 p.m. to hang out with my lovely niece (since she is in Kentucky for a student-nursing convention), but then I found myself in an eight-mile stretch of solid, bumper-to-bumper traffic*, going absolutely nowhere at 45 minutes per mile, feeling my brain exploding with road rage.

Since I hadn't brought my work cell phone with me, I recruited a guy in an SUV beside me to call her on his cell phone. Then I turned around and came home to Lexington. My new plan is to go visit Rachel on Saturday night instead.

Louisville traffic cameras
* I know the true length of the snafu because I asked truckers, who can always be relied upon for accurate info

2005-11-10category: CITY

two days ago, I noticed the leaf-vacuum truck on my street
~ yesterday, I raked all my leaves to the curb
~ ~ today, the leaf-vacuum elves made the leaves disappear
~ ~ ~ thanks again, city workers!

2005-11-09category: BRETT

It's been a pretty lucky day. I noticed that gas prices were shooting up 22 cents per gallon all over town, so I pulled into the first station I saw that still had gas at a lower *cough—ripoff—cough* price, $2.029. I filled up my gas tank, and lo and behold, the price shot up 22 cents per gallon at that station as soon as I was finished! Sweet. That's never happened to me before.

Then I was going to buy myself a tasty lunch at Damon's, where they have a "Big South Burger" covered in pulled-pork barbecue, but wouldn't you know it, Damon's is now closed for good. Dang, bad luck. Didn't matter too much because there's a Corky's BBQ right across Man O War Blvd from Damon's, and I find myself fortunate to be in the presence of sweet-potato fries.

After a delicious lunch there, I drove home and checked my mail, and hey! I now have a formal invitation to the company Christmas party! Oh, kill me now. My life cannot get much better than this.

2005-11-08category: FAME

Last night I was flipping channels during a commercial break on CSI: Miami, and I happened to spot my blue-eyed brunette high-school classmate Amy Young (now known as Bellamy Young) on the NBC show Medium. Amy's getting more and more exposure these days; I'm so happy for her. According to her IMDB profile, she's gonna be in Mission Impossible III with Tom Cruise. Holy moley!

If regular folks like you and me want to be famous, we have to build our own websites and keep them updated regularly. Then, once Google indexes our sites and starts doling out links from them, we can attract attention from searchers in show biz. And then we will be invited to hang out with famous people at their fancy parties, which will earn us a good bit of exposure and fame.

2005-11-08category: WEBSURF

My friend Danielle loves the PostSecret page so much, she set it as the home page on her browser. Well, here's a helpful hint for all of you who love PostSecret as much as she does. Do a Google image search for PostSecret, and you'll find a lot of archived images that you might have missed when they were originally posted.

2005-11-04category: LIFE

Lots of happy events today:

» finally, finally bought myself a Thinkpad laptop, which has been on my wishlist for years

» during my half-day of work, I solved a nagging problem at the Richmond office

» as afternoon turned to evening, I played in my front yard with not one but two kids from two different neighborhood houses — how cool

» went downtown because I got invited to a benefit concert at The Dame, and even though I did not get to dance with Danielle as expected, I did get a front-row spot when the Rakadu Gypsy Dancers did their beautiful belly-dancing performance

Can't win 'em all, however. When I called my "crush" today, I was directed into her voice mail. Sigh.

2005-11-02category: SOCIAL

Haven't been thinking about updating my website lately because I've been busy thinking about a beautiful young woman I met last Saturday night at the swing dance. Been trying to figure out how to court her despite my lack of (1) hair and (2) cooking skills. Think you can help me?